In November, we hosted Whitfield Reaves and panelists Chad Bong, MS, L.OM, L.MT, Jenny Nieters, L.Ac., DACM and Kenji Hirabayashi, L.Ac. for their FREE webinar, Acupuncture Sports Medicine: Beyond What You Learn in School.   

About This Webinar: 

In this webinar, our panel discussed sports medicine and provided some interesting and revealing perspectives about how acupuncturists can approach treating athletes. Whether elite professionals or active patients, techniques for treating sports injuries and pain often fail to be taught in the common curriculum of the colleges in North America. Anatomical perspectives, training programs, and exercise science and rehabilitation are often essential additions to a good treatment program.  Watch this panel discussion to explore this exciting specialty within the field of acupuncture.

What You Will Learn:

• How to find teaching and mentorship programs in sports acupuncture
• What skills are important that are often absent in teaching programs?
• How important is orthopedic assessment
• Do you really need to learn anatomy

Who Should Watch:

• Practitioners and Students looking to learn more about sports acupuncture
• Practitioners and Students looking to broaden their understanding of treating sports related injuries
• Practitioners and Students looking to add to their treatment tool box

About Our Moderator:

Whitfield Reaves, OMD, L.Ac. has been working in the field of sports medicine since he first began practice in 1981. He earned a Doctor of Oriental Medicine degree in 1983 that included a thesis entitled Acupuncture and the Treatment of Common Running Injuries.

Whitfield’s experience in sports medicine includes the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, as well as numerous track and field, ski racing, and cycling events nationally over the last 30 years. He has been in the forefront of the acupuncture sports medicine field, emphasizing the integration of acupuncture with orthopedics and anatomy.

Whitfield is the author of The Acupuncture Handbook of Sports Injuries and Pain. His popular Acupuncture Sports Medicine Apprenticeship Program uses a small group mentorship-style setting in the instruction of orthopedic style acupuncture. Upcoming dates can be found by visiting: https://www.whitfieldreaves.com/calendar/.

His Online CEU Course Series, Mastering the Treatment of Injury and Pain, is AVAILABLE for sale at Lhasa OMS. Check out individual courses or the whole series. https://www.lhasaoms.com/departments/mastering-the-treatment-of-injury-and-pain

About Our Panelists:

Chad Bong, MS., L.OM, L.MT has loved sports his whole life. This love has been instrumental in him going to college, completing a masters degree in exercise science, learning massage therapy, going to acupuncture school, and finally specializing in orthopedic and sports acupuncture.

Chad is also one of the founding members of the Sports Acupuncture Alliance and The PInpoint Performance Podcast. Both focused on helping to bring together and provide educational opportunities for the orthopedic and sports acupuncture community.

Chad currently practices at Philadelphia Sports Acupuncture and the University of Pennsylvania, where he tries to help his patients continue doing the sports that they love.

Dr. Jennifer Nieters, L.Ac., DACM specializes in sports medicine, orthopedic injuries and athletic performance. In addition to her private clinical practice, she is the team acupuncturist for the San Francisco 49ers and the Saint Mary’s College Men’s Rugby teams. She teaches sports acupuncture with Whitfield Reaves in his Sports Medicine Apprentice Program, an advanced training for acupuncturists. She works with professional and Olympic athletes including MLB and NFL players. She also served as event acupuncturist for international rugby tournaments, including the Rugby World Cup Sevens in San Francisco, the Silicon Valley Sevens and the Las Vegas Sevens. She traveled with the Samoan Sevens team to support their efforts at the Paris Sevens tournament.

Chinese Medicine is a perfect modality to support body, mind and spirit for serious competitors. Jenny loves helping athletes achieve their personal best.

Kenji Hirabayashi, L.Ac has been treating injuries and pain since starting his acupuncture practice in 2001. He dove into the Acupuncture Sports Medicine Apprenticeship Program with Whitfield Reaves In 2014. From that time he has continued to assist teaching the Apprenticeship program as well as teaching the anatomically based techniques to TCM doctoral students at his alma mater, ACTCM. Kenji has work with collegiate basketball, volleyball, softball, and soccer players, along with amateur tennis, and mountain biking competitors. He enjoys trail running and mountain biking which he uses to explore training, movement mechanics, and sports psychology, and balances these yang activities with QiGong and yoga.